Communication apparatus, control method, and recording medium

ABSTRACT

Various embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to a communication apparatus capable of preventing a decrease in the speed of communication with an external device due to execution of a handover when the communication apparatus is connected to the external device, and also directed to a control method and a recording medium. A communication apparatus provides, by using a first communication portion that uses a first communication method, communication information for performing communication based on a second communication method to an external device, and causes a second communication portion that uses the second communication method to connect with the external device using the second communication method, and performs control in such a manner that, in a case where the second communication portion connects with the external device, the first communication portion is used to provide communication information to no other external devices.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/137,301, filed Sep. 20, 2018, which is a Continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/425,293, filed Feb. 6, 2017, which issued asU.S. Pat. No. 10,129,431, on Nov. 13, 2018, which claims the benefit ofJapanese Patent Application No. 2016-023072, filed Feb. 9, 2016. Thesedocuments are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a communication apparatus, a controlmethod, and a recording medium.

Description of the Related Art

A technique called “handover” has been used. In some cases, a handoveris a process of transmitting and receiving, using a near-fieldcommunication method, communication information for performingcommunication using a high-speed communication method, between acommunication apparatus and an external device, and thereafter switchingthe communication to the communication using the high-speedcommunication method.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2015-11590 discusses an imageprocessing apparatus which uses a handover to execute communication withan external device using a high-speed communication method. Further, theimage processing apparatus discussed in Japanese Patent ApplicationLaid-Open No. 2015-11590 allows connections with a plurality of externaldevices in parallel using a high-speed communication method.

However, since the apparatus discussed in Japanese Patent ApplicationLaid-Open No. 2015-11590 allows connections with a plurality of externaldevices in parallel using the high-speed communication method, there isa possibility of a decrease in the speed of communication with each ofthe external devices connected in parallel.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Various embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to acommunication apparatus, a control method, and a recording medium thatseek to prevent a decrease in the speed of communication with anexternal device due to execution of a handover when the communicationapparatus is connected to the external device.

According to various embodiments, a communication apparatus including afirst communication portion capable of communicating with an externaldevice by using a first communication method and a second communicationportion capable of communicating with the external device by using asecond communication method that is different from the firstcommunication method, includes a first communication unit configured toprovide communication information for performing communication based onthe second communication method to the external device by using thefirst communication portion, a second communication unit configured tocause the second communication portion to connect with the externaldevice using the second communication method after the communicationinformation is provided to the external device by the firstcommunication portion, and a control unit configured to perform controlin such a manner that, in a case where the second communication portionconnects with the external device, the first communication portion isused to provide the communication information for performingcommunication to no other external devices.

Further features will become apparent from the following description ofexemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates the configuration of a communication system accordingto an exemplary embodiment.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are external views each illustrating a communicationapparatus to which an exemplary embodiment is applied.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically illustrating the configurationof a communication apparatus to which an exemplary embodiment isapplied.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram schematically illustrating the configurationof a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) unit included in a communicationapparatus to which an exemplary embodiment is applied.

FIG. 5 illustrates the configuration of an advertisement packetaccording to one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates details of error information stored in anadvertisement packet according to one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 7 illustrates a process of broadcasting an advertisement packet andreceiving connection request information which is performed by acommunication apparatus to which an exemplary embodiment is applied.

FIGS. 8A, 8B, and 8C each illustrate advertisement in respectiveadvertisement modes according to one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram schematically illustrating the configurationof an external device capable of communicating with a communicationapparatus to which an exemplary embodiment is applied.

FIG. 10 illustrates a sequence of job transmission and receptionprocessing via BLE communication according to one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating a process which is executed by acommunication apparatus to which an exemplary embodiment is applied.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart illustrating a process which is executed by acommunication apparatus to which an exemplary embodiment is applied.

FIGS. 13A, 13B, 13C, and 13D each illustrate a screen displayed on anexternal device by a communication apparatus to which an exemplaryembodiment is applied.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Various exemplary embodiments will be described below with reference tothe accompanying drawings. It should be understood that changes andmodifications made as appropriate to the following exemplary embodimentsbased on general knowledge of those skilled in the art without departingfrom the spirit or essential features thereof are also encompassedwithin the scope of the disclosure.

The following describes a communication apparatus to which an exemplaryembodiment is applied. The communication apparatus is an apparatuscapable of receiving a job from an external device. In the presentexemplary embodiment, an inkjet multi-function peripheral (MFP) isdescribed as an example of the communication apparatus. MFP refers to anapparatus having a plurality of functions such as a print function,scanner function, copy function, and fax function. The communicationapparatus may be, for example, a copy machine, fax machine, scanner,personal computer (PC), smartphone, tablet terminal, personal digitalassistant (PDA), digital camera, or music reproduction device. Further,in a case where the communication apparatus is a printer, a printingmethod to be used is not limited to an inkjet method and may be, forexample, an electrophotographic method. Further, the communicationapparatus may be a single-function peripheral (SFP) instead of MFP. Theexternal device is an apparatus capable of connecting to thecommunication apparatus by a handover described below. In the presentexemplary embodiment, a mobile terminal capable of performing Bluetooth®low energy (hereinafter, referred to as “BLE”) communication isdescribed as an example of the external device. BLE is one of thenear-field wireless communication standards. The external device may be,for example, a PC, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a PDA, or a camera.

The following describes a communication system according to the presentexemplary embodiment with reference to FIG. 1.

An MFP 100 is a communication apparatus to which the present exemplaryembodiment is applied. The MFP 100 operates as a slave apparatus in BLEcommunication. Further, the MFP 100 is capable of transmitting(broadcasting) an advertisement packet to an unspecified external devicelocated near the MFP 100 without connecting to a specific terminal via anetwork.

A mobile terminal 30 is an external device in the present exemplaryembodiment. The mobile terminal 30 operates as a master apparatus in BLEcommunication. When the mobile terminal 30 is within a packet coveragearea 20, which is the coverage of an advertisement packet transmitted bythe MFP 100, the mobile terminal 30 can receive an advertisement packettransmitted from the MFP 100. When the mobile terminal 30 is locatedwithin a packet coverage area of a plurality of communicationapparatuses, the mobile terminal 30 can receive an advertisement packetfrom each of the plurality of communication apparatuses. Further, themobile terminal 30 can estimate an approximate distance to the MFP 100based on the signal intensity of the advertisement packet received fromthe MFP 100.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are external views each illustrating the MFP 100. FIG.2A is a perspective view of the MFP 100, and FIG. 2B is a top view ofthe MFP 100.

A platen 201 is a transparent glass platen and used as a platen on whichan original document is placed to be read by a scanner. An originaldocument cover 202 is used to prevent leakage of reading light to theoutside while the scanner reads an original document. The originaldocument cover 202 is rotatably moved about a supporting point where theoriginal document cover 202 is connected to the platen 201.

A printing medium insertion port 203 is used to hold printing mediums ofvarious sizes. Printing mediums set in the printing medium insertionport 203 is conveyed one by one to a recording unit 314, which will bedescribed below, undergoes printing according to a print job transmittedfrom the mobile terminal 30, and is discharged from a printing mediumdischarge port 204. Further, the MFP 100 includes cassettes 205 and 206as other printing medium feeding units. A printing medium correspondingto a print job is set in advance in the cassette 205 or 206 so that theMFP 100 can start printing without receiving the feed of a printingmedium for each printing. Examples of a printing medium that can be usedin the MFP 100 include paper, overhead projector (OHP) sheets, labels,and films.

An upper portion of the original document cover 202 includes anoperation display unit 207, a Bluetooth (BT)® communication unit 208,and a Wi-Fi® communication unit 209. The operation display unit 207includes a display screen for displaying an image, an operation menu,and the like, arrow keys for moving a cursor and the like on the displayunit, and keys for executing various other functions. The BTcommunication unit 208 is used to perform BT communication and BLEcommunication. Details of the BT communication unit 208 will bedescribed below with reference to FIG. 4. The Wi-Fi communication unit209 is used to perform Wi-Fi® communication.

The locations of the respective units described above are not limited tothe locations specified in FIGS. 2A and 2B, and the units may be locatedin other positions.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically illustrating the configurationof the MFP 100.

The MFP 100 includes a main board 301, a BLE unit 316, and a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN) unit 318. The main board 301 performs maincontrol on the apparatus. The BLE unit 316 performs BT communication andBLE communication. The WLAN unit 318 performs Wi-Fi communication.

In the main board 301, a central processing unit (CPU) 302 is a systemcontrol unit and controls the entire MFP 100. A read-only memory (ROM)303 stores various programs such as a control program to be executed bythe CPU 302 and an embedded operating system (hereinafter, referred toas “OS”) program. In the present exemplary embodiment, the controlprogram stored in the ROM 303 is executed to perform software controlsuch as scheduling and task switching under the control of the embeddedOS stored in the ROM 303. A random access memory (RAM) 304 includes amemory such as a static RAM (SRAM). The RAM 304 stores program controlvariables, setting values registered by a user, management data of theMFP 100, setting information such as mode change conditions describedbelow, and the like. The RAM 304 includes buffer areas for various typesof work. The data described above may be stored not in the RAM 304 butin a different storage area such as the ROM 303 or a non-volatile memory305.

The non-volatile memory 305 includes a memory such as a flash memory andstores data which is to be retained even if the power supply is turnedoff. Examples of data stored in the non-volatile memory 305 includenetwork information such as a password and authentication informationfor connecting to a network, a list of previously connected externaldevices including media access control (MAC) addresses and service setidentifiers (SSIDs), and setting information of the MFP 100 such as menuitems including a printing mode and recording head correctioninformation. The setting information data may be stored not in thenon-volatile memory 305 but in a different storage area such as the ROM303 or the RAM 304. Further, the CPU 302 may perform processing usingthe setting information stored in the ROM 303 or the non-volatile memory305 by loading the setting information into the RAM 304.

An image memory 306 includes a memory such as a dynamic RAM (DRAM) andstores various types of data such as image data received via the BLEunit 316, the WLAN unit 318, and the like, and image data processed by acode decoding processing unit 312.

The memory configuration of the MFP 100 is not limited to the foregoingconfiguration, and the number, characteristics, storage capacity, andthe like of the memories can be changed as appropriate according to ause or a purpose of use. For example, the image memory 306 and the RAM304 may be shared. Further, while the image memory 306 includes theDRAM, the image memory 306 is not limited to the DRAM and may include ahard disk (hereinafter, referred to as “HDD”) or a non-volatile memory.

A data conversion unit 307 performs various types of image processingsuch as smoothing processing, recording density correction processing,and color correction on image data contained in a received job via animage processing control unit (not illustrated). The data conversionunit 307 executes the foregoing processing to convert image data to beprinted into high-definition print data and outputs the converted printdata to the recording unit 314.

A reading unit 310 optically reads an original document with a contactimage sensor (CIS) or the like. A reading control unit 308 performsvarious types of image processing such as binarization processing andhalftone processing on image signals read by the reading unit 310 tooutput high-definition image data.

An operation unit 309 and a display unit 311 correspond to the operationdisplay unit 207. The operation unit 309 and a display unit 311 receivevarious types of input entered to the MFP 100 and display various typesof information about the MFP 100.

The code decoding processing unit 312 performs various types ofprocessing such as code decoding processing and enlargement/reductionprocessing on image data.

A sheet feeding unit 313 holds printing mediums for printing and feedsthe printing mediums to the recording unit 314 according to control by arecording control unit 315. The sheet feeding unit 313 corresponds tothe printing medium insertion port 203 and the cassettes 205 and 206.

The recording control unit 315 controls which one of the printing mediuminsertion port 203 and the cassettes 205 and 206 feeds a sheet. Further,the recording control unit 315 plays a role of updating information ofthe RAM 304 by periodically reading various types of information such asthe status of the recording unit 314. More specifically, the recordingcontrol unit 315 updates information such as the apparatus statusindicating that the apparatus is in use or in a sleep state or an erroroccurs, and the level of remaining ink in an ink tank.

The recording unit 314 executes image formation processing (printingprocessing) to form an image on a printing medium with a recording agentsuch as ink based on print setting information contained in print dataor a print job output from the data conversion unit 307.

The BLE unit 316 is a unit configured to realize communication inaccordance with BLE standards and corresponds to the BT communicationunit 208. The BLE unit 316 is used for both classic BT communication andBLE communication. The BLE unit 316 serves functions for thetransmission of advertisement packets, reception of connection requestinformation, and data communication (e.g., provision of a job orinformation for performing communication using a differentcommunication) with an external device with which a BLE connection isestablished. The BLE unit 316 establishes a BLE connection with anotherBLE unit by transmitting and receiving an advertisement packet andconnection request information described below. Further, the BLE unit316 is connected to a system bus 320 via a bus cable 317.

The WLAN unit 318 is a unit configured to realize communication inaccordance with Wi-Fi standards and corresponds to the Wi-Ficommunication unit 209. The WLAN unit 318 serves the functions ofperforming connection information transmission processing andauthentication processing for establishing a Wi-Fi connection andreceiving a job from an external device with which a Wi-Fi connection isestablished. Further, the WLAN unit 318 is connected to the system bus320 via a bus cable 319.

The above-described components 302 to 319 are connected to one anothervia the system bus 320 managed by the CPU 302.

The MFP 100 may include a communication unit other than the BLE unit 316and the WLAN unit 318. The communication may be performed directly viawireless communication or may be performed via an access point locatedoutside the MFP 100 on a network. Examples of the communication methodinclude NFC (Near Field Communication; ISO/IEC IS 18092) and Wi-FiAware. Further, the communication is not limited to wirelesscommunication and may be wired communication via a wired local areanetwork (LAN) or the like. The MFP 100 receives a job from otherexternal devices such as the mobile terminal 30 via a network using theabove-described communication methods.

Further, a method by which the MFP 100 receives a job is not limited tothe method of receiving a job from an external device via wireless orwired communication. For example, the MFP 100 may receive a job byreceiving an instruction for printing or scanning directly from a uservia the operation unit 309.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram schematically illustrating the configurationof the mobile terminal 30.

The mobile terminal 30 includes a main board 901, a BLE unit 911, and aWLAN unit 913. The main board 901 performs main control on theapparatus. The BLE unit 911 performs BT communication and BLEcommunication. The WLAN unit 913 performs Wi-Fi communication.

In the main board 901, a CPU 902 is a system control unit and controlsthe entire mobile terminal 30. A ROM 903 stores various programs such asa control program to be executed by the CPU 902 and an embedded OSprogram. In the present exemplary embodiment, the control program storedin the ROM 903 is executed to perform software control such asscheduling and task switching under the control of the embedded OSstored in the ROM 903. A RAM 904 includes a memory such as a SRAM. TheRAM 904 stores program control variables, setting values registered by auser, management data of the mobile terminal 30, and the like. The RAM904 includes buffer areas for various types of work. The settinginformation data described above may be stored not in the RAM 904 but ina different storage area such as the ROM 903 or a non-volatile memory905.

The non-volatile memory 905 includes a memory such as a flash memory andstores data which is to be retained even if the power supply is turnedoff. Examples of data stored in the non-volatile memory 905 includenetwork information such as a password and authentication informationfor connecting to a network, a list of previously connected externaldevices including MAC addresses and SSIDs, and setting information ofthe mobile terminal 30. The setting information data may be stored notin the non-volatile memory 905 but in a different storage area such asthe ROM 903 or the RAM 904. Further, the CPU 902 may perform processingusing the setting information stored in the ROM 903 or the non-volatilememory 905 by loading the setting information into the RAM 904.

An image memory 906 includes a memory such as a DRAM and stores varioustypes of data such as image data received via the BLE unit 911, the WLANunit 913, and the like, and image data processed by a code decodingprocessing unit 910.

The memory configuration of the mobile terminal 30 is not limited to theforegoing configuration, and the number, characteristics, storagecapacity, and the like of the memories can be changed as appropriateaccording to a use or purposes of use. For example, the image memory 906and the RAM 904 may be shared. Further, while the image memory 906includes the DRAM, the image memory 906 is not limited to the DRAM andmay include a HDD or non-volatile memory.

A data conversion unit 907 generates data such as page descriptionlanguage (PDL) data and performs data conversion such as colorconversion and image conversion on image data.

An operation unit 908 and a display unit 909 receive various types ofinput entered to the mobile terminal 30 and display various types ofinformation about the mobile terminal 30.

The code decoding processing unit 910 performs various types ofprocessing such as code decoding processing and enlargement/reductionprocessing on image data.

The BLE unit 911 is a unit configured to realize communication inaccordance with BLE standards. The BLE unit 911 is a unit for bothclassic BT communication and BLE communication. The BLE unit 911 servesthe functions of receiving an advertisement packet, transmittingconnection request information, performing data communication with anapparatus with which a BLE connection is established, and the like.Further, the BLE unit 911 is connected to a system bus 915 via a buscable 912.

The WLAN unit 913 is a unit configured to realize communication inaccordance with Wi-Fi standards. The WLAN unit 913 serves the functionsof performing scanning processing and authentication processing forestablishing a Wi-Fi connection, receiving a job from an external devicewith which a Wi-Fi connection is established, and the like. Further, theWLAN unit 913 is connected to the system bus 915 via a bus cable 914.

The above-described components 902 to 914 are connected to one anothervia the system bus 915 managed by the CPU 902.

The mobile terminal 30 may include a communication unit other than theBLE unit 911 and the WLAN unit 913. Further, the mobile terminal 30 mayinclude a plurality of communication units to be capable of performingcommunication using a plurality of types of communication methods. Thecommunication may be performed directly via wireless communication ormay be performed via an access point located outside the mobile terminal30 on a network. Examples of the communication methods include NFC andWi-Fi Aware. Further, the communication may be not wirelesscommunication but wired communication.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram schematically illustrating the configurationof the BLE unit 316. The bus cable 317 is a cable for transmitting andreceiving data to be transmitted and received in BLE communicationbetween the main board 301 and a microcomputer 403. The microcomputer403 is a microprocessor configured to perform processing to realize BLEcommunication. The microcomputer 403 includes a RAM and a flash memory.A wireless communication circuit 404 includes a wireless communicationchip, a crystal oscillator, an inductor, and a capacitor. The wirelesscommunication circuit 404 is a component of the physical layer (PHY) inBLE and performs advertisement described below and data communicationafter the establishment of BLE connection by modulating/demodulatinganalog signals, changing to digital symbols, and the like. An operationswitch 405 is a switch for turning on or off the supply of power to theBLE unit 316. A battery 406 is a button battery or the lie. A main-boardpower supply 402 is a power supply operated by power supplied from themain board 301. A power circuit 407 is a circuit configured to performprocessing such as voltage adjustment to supply power from the battery406 more efficiently. The BLE unit 316 includes the two power supplysystems, the battery 406 and the main-board power supply 402, so thateven if the supply of power from the main board 301 is stopped because,for example, the power supply of the MFP 100 is turned off or the MFP100 is switched to a power-saving mode, the BLE unit 316 can perform BLEcommunication. Further, the BLE unit 316 includes a non-volatile memory401 and transfers information transmitted from the main board 301 to thenon-volatile memory 401. In this way, even when the BLE unit 316 isunable to communicate with the main board 301, the BLE unit 316 canperform BLE communication with other apparatuses. Further, the BLE unit911 has a similar configuration to the configuration of the BLE unit316.

The following describes a process of transmitting an advertisementpacket and receiving connection request information in BLE, withreference to FIG. 7. In the present exemplary embodiment, the MFP 100operates as a slave device, so the BLE unit 316 performs the processingdescribed above.

The BLE unit 316 divides a frequency band of 2.4 GHz into 40 channels (0to 39ch) and performs communication. The BLE unit 316 uses the 37th to39th channels for the transmission of an advertisement packet and thereception of connection request information, and uses the 0th to 36thchannels for the data communication after the establishment of BLEconnection. In FIG. 7, the vertical axis shows the power consumption ofthe BLE unit 316, and the horizontal axis shows the time. FIG. 7illustrates for each processing the power consumption at the time oftransmitting an advertisement packet using one channel. Tx 705 indicatesthe total power consumption in the transmission processing that isadvertisement packet broadcasting processing. Rx 706 indicates the totalpower consumption in the reception processing which is the processing toenable a receiver for receiving connection request information.Transmission power 702 indicates the instantaneous power consumption ofthe transmission processing. Further, reception power 703 indicates theinstantaneous power consumption of the reception processing. Further,microcomputer operation power 701 indicates the instantaneous powerconsumption during the operation of the microcomputer 403. Themicrocomputer 403 also operates before, after, and between Tx 705 and Rx706 because the microcomputer 403 needs to be activated in advance inorder to execute or stop transmission/reception processing. Further, ina case where the advertisement packet transmission is performed using aplurality of channels, the power consumption increases by the number ofchannels used in the advertisement packet transmission. Further, whenthe microcomputer 403 is not operating and the BLE unit 316 is in apower-saving state, the instantaneous power consumption of the BLE unit316 is sleep power 704. As described above, the BLE unit 316 performstransmission processing using a predetermined channel and then performsreception processing using the same channel for a predefined timeperiod, thereby waiting for connection request information to betransmitted from an external device.

Further, as illustrated in FIG. 8A, the BLE unit 316 repeats theadvertisement packet transmission processing and reception processingthree times for each channel and then stops the operation of themicrocomputer 403 to change to the power-saving state for a predefinedtime period. Hereinafter, a combination of the advertisement packettransmission processing and reception processing using a predeterminedchannel will be referred to as advertisement. Further, a time intervalbetween the advertisement packet transmission using a predeterminedchannel will be referred to as an advertisement interval. The number oftimes the advertisement is repeated between the time point at which theadvertisement is performed for the first time and the time point atwhich the state is changed to the power-saving state may be changed toany number no more than three.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of the configuration of an advertisementpacket that the BLE unit 316 broadcasts in the vicinity of the MFP 100.

When the supply of power is started, the BLE unit 316 performsinitialization processing to change to an advertising state. When theBLE unit 316 is in the advertising state, the BLE unit 316 periodicallybroadcasts an advertisement packet to the surrounding area based on theadvertisement interval. The advertisement packet is a signal containingbasic header information (e.g., identification information for theidentification of an apparatus transmitting the advertisement packet)and includes a header 501 and payload 502. An external device canrecognize the presence of the MFP 100 by receiving the advertisementpacket. Further, the external device can establish a BLE connection withthe MFP 100 by transmitting connection request information to the MFP100. The header 501 is an area where information such as the type of theadvertisement packet and the size of the payload 502 is stored. Thepayload 502 stores information such as the device name as identificationinformation, loaded profile information, connection information forconnecting to the MFP 100, and advertisement packet transmission power(Tx Power).

The following describes details of the payload 502. A device name 503stores identification information for the identification of the MFP 100.The identification information is information for uniquely identifyingthe MFP 100, and examples of the identification information include acharacter string defined by BLE, serial number of the MFP 100, and MACaddress.

Connection information 504 stores information for establishing a BLEconnection with the MFP 100. More specifically, the information forestablishing a BLE connection corresponds to protocol data defined byBLE. An external device such as the mobile terminal 30 establishes a BLEconnection by transmitting and receiving the protocol data.

Further, at this time, the MFP 100 and the external device can establisha connection using a technology other than BLE. For example, connectioninformation for a connection to a WLAN unit (not illustrated) includedin the MFP 100 may be set as information for a connection to the MFP 100so that the external device having received the advertisement packet canestablish a WLAN connection with the MFP 100. The connection information504 may store search information that is information indicating whetherto allow the external device to search for the MFP 100. For example, theexternal device having received the advertisement packet storing thesearch information indicating that a search is not allowed can notify auser of the state of the MFP 100 but cannot establish a connection withthe MFP 100 or list the MFP 100 as a candidate apparatus to beconnected. In other words, in this case, the MFP 100 canuni-directionally transmit information to the external device. Thesearch information may use a flag to indicate whether to allow a searchfor the MFP 100.

Tx Power 505 stores information about the advertisement packettransmission power. The external device having received theadvertisement packet can estimate the distance between the MFP 100 andthe external device by calculating the transmission loss from the TxPower 505 and the signal intensity at the time of the reception of theadvertisement packet.

Advertisement mode information 506 stores information about anadvertisement mode of the MFP 100 at the time of the transmission of theadvertisement packet. Details of the advertisement mode will bedescribed below.

Error information 507 stores information indicating an error state ofthe MFP 100 at the time of the transmission of the advertisement packet.The external device having received the advertisement packet refers tothe error information 507 to identify an occurrence of an error in theMFP 100 and notify a user of the occurrence of the error withoutestablishing a connection with the MFP 100.

The following describes details of the error information 507 withreference to FIG. 6. The error information 507 includes job statusinformation (hereinafter, referred to as “job status 601”), job errorinformation (hereinafter, referred to as “job error 602”), recoverableerror information (hereinafter, referred to as “recoverable error 603”),and fatal error information (hereinafter, referred to as “fatal error604”). The job error, the recoverable error, and the fatal error areclassifications of errors that can occur in the MFP 100. In a case wherethe MFP 100 is in any of the above-described error states, informationindicating the error state of the MFP 100 is stored in the errorinformation 507.

In the present exemplary embodiment, a bit is assigned to the errorinformation so that even when a plurality of errors occurs, each of theoccurring errors is notified to the user. Further, the external devicehaving received the advertisement packet can identify the error stateoccurring in the MFP 100 based on the information contained in the errorinformation 507 and notify the identified error state to the user. Thus,the user can check the notification from the external device todetermine whether to cancel the error and then use the MFP 100 or to usea different communication apparatus.

The job status 601 stores information such as the status of a jobcurrently received by the MFP 100. Examples of the stored informationinclude the number of received jobs and the number of received pages.The external device having received the advertisement packet identifiesthe number of received jobs and the number of received pages to estimate(identify) an approximate waiting time from the time point at which ajob is transmitted to the time point at which the job is processed.

The job error 602 stores a value indicating details of an error thatoccurs when the MFP 100 receives and executes a job. Examples of the joberror include a sheet size mismatch, sheet type mismatch, image decodeerror, packet error, color mismatch, imposition error, andlack-of-support error. The job error is likely to occur in a case where,for example, setting information of a transmitted job does not match thesetting information of the MFP 100. In other words, in many cases thejob error can be solved by retransmitting an appropriate job from theexternal device having received the advertisement packet or by changingthe setting of the MFP 100. The MFP 100 may store the job error 602 inthe advertisement packet to thereby notify an external device held by auser near the MFP 100 that the MFP 100 is in the job error state.

The recoverable error 603 stores a value indicating an error thatrequires user maintenance of the MFP 100 among the errors occurring inthe MFP 100. The value indicating the error is assigned to therecoverable error 603 for each bit as in the job error 602. Examples ofthe recoverable error include a sheet jam in a sheet conveyance unit, asheet jam in a sheet feeding unit, sheet tray full, discharge portclosed, cover opened, no ink, low remaining ink level, and other errorsthat require user maintenance. The MFP 100 stores the recoverable error603 in the advertisement packet to thereby notify an external deviceheld by a user near the MFP 100 that the MFP 100 is in the recoverableerror state.

The fatal error 604 stores a value indicating an error that is difficultto recover by user maintenance among the errors occurring in the MFP100. The error that is difficult to recover by user maintenance refersto, for example, an error that cannot be recovered by a normal user andrequires contact with a service center. More specifically, examples ofthe fatal error include waste ink tank full, printing unit temperatureerror, power supply error, and other errors that are difficult torecover by maintenance. The MFP 100 stores the fatal error 604 in theadvertisement packet to thereby notify an external device held by a usernear the MFP 100 that the MFP 100 is in the fatal error state.

The configurations illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 are mere examples, andthe MFP 100 may store data other than those specified in FIGS. 5 and 6in the advertisement packet and broadcast the advertisement packet. Forexample, a flag indicating that information that cannot be stored in theadvertisement packet is to be broadcast in a next advertisement packet,capability information about the MFP 100, and information about the typeof the advertisement packet may be stored.

FIG. 10 illustrates a sequence of job transmission and reception by ahandover between the mobile terminal 30 and the MFP 100. The handover isa technique in which apparatuses to communicate with each other use anear-field communication method to transmit and receive connectioninformation for performing communication using a high-speedcommunication method and then switch to the high-speed communicationmethod to transmit and receive data using the high-speed communicationmethod. In the present exemplary embodiment, a BLE communication methodis used as the near-field communication method, and a Wi-Ficommunication method is used as the high-speed communication method. Thecommunication speed of BLE communication is lower than the communicationspeed of Wi-Fi communication. Thus, authentication between the mobileterminal 30 and the MFP 100, transmission and reception of connectioninformation for Wi-Fi communication, and the like are performed in theBLE communication, and the transfer of large-capacity data (job in thepresent exemplary embodiment) is performed in the Wi-Fi communication inwhich the communication speed is high, whereby efficient data transferis realized. The communication methods used in the handover are notlimited to the above-described communication methods, and variouscommunication methods may be used as the near-field communication methodand the high-speed communication method. For example, connectioninformation for Wi-Fi communication may be transmitted and received viaNFC communication or Wi-Fi Aware communication, and then data may betransmitted and received via Wi-Fi communication.

The CPU 302 loads the control program stored in the ROM 303 or HDD (notillustrated) included in the MFP 100 into the RAM 304 and executes thecontrol program to realize the processing of the MFP 100 specified inthe sequence. Further, the CPU 902 loads the control program stored inthe ROM 903 or HDD (not illustrated) included in the mobile terminal 30into the RAM 904 and executes the control program to realize theprocessing of the mobile terminal 30 specified in the sequence.

In the following description, the MFP 100 is an advertiser whichtransmits an advertisement packet at predetermined intervals. Further,the mobile terminal 30 is an initiator which waits for an advertisementpacket transmitted from a nearby advertiser. First, in steps S1001 toS1003, the BLE unit 316 transmits an advertisement packet. The mobileterminal 30 can recognize the presence of the MFP 100 when the BLE unit911 receives the advertisement packet transmitted from the BLE unit 316.

If the mobile terminal 30 recognizes the MFP 100 and determines toconnect to the MFP 100, the mobile terminal 30 transmits connectionrequest information to the MFP 100. More specifically, in step S1004,the BLE unit 911 transmits a CONNECT_REQ, which is a request forchanging to a connection event to establish a BLE network connection. Ifthe BLE unit 316 receives the CONNECT_REQ, the mobile terminal 30 andthe MFP 100 prepare to change to the connection event. Morespecifically, the BLE unit 911 and the BLE unit 316 respectively notifythe main board 901 and the main board 301 that the connection processingfor BLE communication is completed. Thereafter, the mobile terminal 30and the MFP 100 respectively change from the initiator and theadvertiser to a master and a slave, and the mobile terminal 30 as themaster and the MFP 100 as the slave establish a connection (BLEconnection) for BLE communication. According to the BLE standards, amaster can form a “point-to-multipoint” star topology with a slave.After the BLE connection is established, the mobile terminal 30 and theMFP 100 can perform data communication using the BLE communicationmethod.

Then, in step S1005, the BLE unit 911 transmits to the BLE unit 316 arequest for information about a communication protocol available for useby the MFP 100.

The request contains information about a communication protocolavailable for use by the mobile terminal 30, and the BLE unit 316receives the request to thereby recognize that the mobile terminal 30can use a communication method such as Wi-Fi. In step S1006, the BLEunit 316 transmits information about the communication protocolavailable for use by the BLE unit 316 in response to the requestreceived in step S1005. In this way, the mobile terminal 30 and the MFP100 can acquire information about the communication protocols availablefor use by the mobile terminal 30 and the MFP 100 other than BLE.

After the information about the communication protocols available foruse by the mobile terminal 30 and the MFP 100 other than BLE isacquired, the mobile terminal 30 may determine to switch thecommunication between the mobile terminal 30 and the MFP 100 to Wi-Ficommunication. At this time, whether to switch the communication methodmay be determined by the MFP 100. If it is determined to switch thecommunication method, then in steps S1007 and S1008, the mobile terminal30 and the MFP 100 transmit and receive necessary communicationinformation for Wi-Fi communication such as address information for theidentification of a communication partner and SSID information. Then, instep S1009, the BLE unit 911 transmits a request (communication switchrequest) for switching the method of communication between the mobileterminal 30 and the MFP 100 from BLE communication to Wi-Ficommunication. If the BLE unit 316 receives the communication switchrequest, then in step S1010, the BLE unit 316 transmits a communicationswitch response.

If the communication switch request and the communication switchresponse are properly transmitted and received, then in step S1011, themobile terminal 30 switches the communication unit used to communicatewith the MFP 100 from the BLE unit 911 to the WLAN unit 913. Then, instep S1012, the MFP 100 switches the communication unit used tocommunicate with the mobile terminal 30 from the BLE unit 316 to theWLAN unit 318. After the switch, in step S1013, the BLE unit 911transmits a release request. In step S1014, the BLE unit 316 havingreceived the release request transmits a release response, and the BLEconnection between the mobile terminal 30 and the MFP 100 is ended.After the BLE connection between the mobile terminal 30 and the MFP 100is ended, the mobile terminal 30 and the MFP 100 are respectivelychanged to the initiator and the advertiser again, and the BLE unit 316restarts transmitting an advertisement packet.

Thereafter, the mobile terminal 30 and the MFP 100 perform Wi-Ficommunication using the necessary information for Wi-Fi communicationthat is transmitted and received in steps S1007 and S1008. First, instep S1015, the WLAN unit 913 confirms with the WLAN unit 318 as towhether the MFP 100 is allowed to acquire a job. In the presentexemplary embodiment, for example, information about a free space fortemporarily storing an image to be transferred to the MFP 100 isconfirmed. In step S1016, the WLAN unit 318 having received theconfirmation request transmits a confirmation response to theconfirmation request.

If an appropriate response is acquired and it is determined that the MFP100 is allowed to acquire a job, then in step S1017, the WLAN unit 318transmits a request for a job. Then, in step S1018, the WLAN unit 913having received the job request transmits to the WLAN unit 318 a jobincluding image data present in the mobile terminal 30. The job to betransmitted at this time is selected at a timing, for example, beforethe BLE connection is established, after the BLE connection isestablished, or after the Wi-Fi connection is established. Further, thejob to be transmitted is not limited to the print job and may be, forexample, a scan job for instructing the MFP 100 to perform scanning or ajob for the acquisition of information about the state of the MFP 100 bythe mobile terminal 30. Further, the job to be transmitted may be, forexample, a command for executing various operations on the MFP 100 suchas an operation to change the setting of the MFP 100. If the jobtransmission is completed, the mobile terminal 30 disconnects the Wi-Ficonnection with the MFP 100 and returns to the previous network stateimmediately before the handover. More specifically, in a case where, forexample, the mobile terminal 30 is connected to a mobile communicationnetwork such as the third generation (3G) or Long-Term Evolution (LTE)or an access point such as a router before the execution of thehandover, the mobile terminal 30 reestablishes a connection to themobile communication network or the access point. Thus, prior to theexecution of the handover, the mobile terminal 30 stores informationabout the network state immediate before the handover, necessarycommunication information for the establishment of the network state,and the like.

As described above, the handover technique is used so that connectioninformation for performing communication using a high-speedcommunication method is transmitted and received using a high-usabilitycommunication method (near-field communication method) and thenlarge-capacity data is transmitted and received at high speed using thehigh-speed communication method.

In general, if the communication method is switched from BLEcommunication to Wi-Fi communication by the handover, the BLE unit 316restarts transmitting an advertisement packet, so the MFP 100 is changedto the state in which the MFP 100 can execute a handover with anexternal device other than the mobile terminal 30.

At this time, there may be a case where job transmission by Wi-Ficommunication is not completed because, for example, the mobile terminal30 is preparing for data communication such as the selection orgeneration of a job to be transmitted or a job of a large data amount isbeing transmitted. In such a case, if an external device other than themobile terminal 30 executes Wi-Fi communication with the MFP 100 by ahandover, the reception of a job transmitted by the other externaldevice may be completed first although the mobile terminal 30 executesthe handover first. Since the MFP 100 starts the processing of a job inthe order of completion of reception, there is a possibility that asubsequent job is processed before a previous job in such a casedescribed above. Thus, in the present exemplary embodiment, when the MFP100 is Wi-Fi connected to an external device such as the mobile terminal30 by a handover, the MFP 100 executes control to prevent a situation inwhich a subsequent job is processed before a previous job. Morespecifically, the MFP 100 executes control to change the advertisementmode to stop advertisement in BLE as the control to prevent a situationin which a subsequent job is processed before a previous job. In otherwords, when the MFP 100 is Wi-Fi connected to an external device, theMFP 100 is changed to the state in which the MFP 100 cannot execute ahandover with an external device other than the Wi-Fi connected externaldevice.

The following describes the advertisement mode according to the presentexemplary embodiment. The advertisement mode refers to a mode fordefining an advertisement method and contents of an advertisement packetto be transmitted. In the present exemplary embodiment, there are twoadvertisement modes in which the MFP 100 is operable, which are a normalmode and a non-connectable mode.

The normal mode is a mode that is set to the MFP 100 in the normal statein which no Wi-Fi connection with an external device is established by ahandover. When the MFP 100 operates in the normal mode, the MFP 100executes both the transmission processing and the reception processingas illustrated in FIG. 8A. Further, the advertisement packet to betransmitted in this case stores in the connection information 504 searchinformation indicating that a search is allowed. In this way, the MFP100 can broadcast the advertisement packet to enable an external deviceto recognize the presence of the MFP 100. Further, the MFP 100 canreceive connection request information from the external device, connectto the external device, and perform BLE communication. The normal modeincludes two modes. In one mode, a destination is designated and theadvertisement packet is transmitted to the designated destination. Inanother mode, the advertisement packet is transmitted withoutdesignating a destination. In the present exemplary embodiment, eitherone of the two modes may be used in the normal mode. The advertisementpacket is classified according to three different properties(connectability, scannability, directability). More specifically, theadvertisement packet is classified into four types, ADV_IND,ADV_DIRECT_IND, ADV_NONCONN_IND, and ADV_SCAN_IND. Among the four types,ADV_IND and ADV_DIRECT_IND have a “connectable” attribute in theconnectability. In the present exemplary embodiment, the MFP 100 isconnectable to an external device in the normal mode, so theadvertisement packet of the type ADV_IND or ADV_DIRECT_IND istransmitted.

The non-connectable mode is a mode that is set to the MFP 100 in a casewhere the MFP 100 is Wi-Fi connected to an external device by ahandover. In the present exemplary embodiment, when the MFP 100 operatesin the non-connectable mode, the MFP 100 executes neither thetransmission processing nor the reception processing as illustrated inFIG. 8C. In other words, when the MFP 100 is changed to thenon-connectable mode, the MFP 100 stops advertisement. When the MFP 100stops advertisement, the MFP 100 no longer receives connection requestinformation and therefore no longer establishes a BLE connection with anexternal device. Thus, when the MFP 100 is in the non-connectable mode,the MFP 100 does not execute Wi-Fi communication by a handover via BLEcommunication with a device other than the external device with whichthe MFP 100 executes Wi-Fi communication since before the change to thenon-connectable mode.

The condition for the execution of the control to prevent a situation inwhich a subsequent job is processed before a previous job is not limitedto the above-described condition. The control may be executed in a casewhere, for example, the reception of data from the Wi-Fi connectedexternal device is not completed or the processing of a job receivedfrom the Wi-Fi connected external device is not completed. The controlto prevent a situation in which a subsequent job is processed before aprevious job is not limited to the control described above. For example,control may be performed in such a manner that no Wi-Fi connection withan external device other than the external device with which a Wi-Ficonnection is already established is executed in order to prevent asituation in which a subsequent job is processed before a previous jobas a result of executing a Wi-Fi connection without going through BLE.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating an advertisement mode changingprocess which is executed by the MFP 100 according to the presentexemplary embodiment. The CPU 302 loads the control program stored inthe ROM 303 or HDD (not illustrated) included in the MFP 100 into theRAM 304 and executes the control program to realize the processingillustrated in the flow chart. The processing illustrated in the flowchart is started when advertisement is started, e.g., when the powersupply of the main body of the MFP 100 is turned on or when the powersupply of the BLE unit 316 is turned on.

First, in step S1101, the CPU 302 prepares to broadcast theadvertisement packet. More specifically, for example, the CPU 302acquires from the memory such as the RAM 304 necessary data forgenerating the advertisement packet illustrated in FIG. 5.

Next, in step S1102, the CPU 302 causes the BLE unit 316 to startbroadcasting the advertisement packet. At this time, the MFP 100 is inthe normal mode, so the transmission processing and the receptionprocessing are both executed as illustrated in FIG. 8A.

Next, in step S1103, the CPU 302 determines whether the BLE unit 316receives a CONNECT_REQ. If the CPU 302 determines that the BLE unit 316receives a CONNECT_REQ (YES in step S1103), then in step S1104, the CPU302 executes a handover with an external device having issued theCONNECT_REQ. More specifically, the CPU 302 establishes a BLE connectionbetween the MFP 100 and the external device to transmit and receivecommunication information and thereafter establishes a Wi-Fi connectionbetween the MFP 100 and the external device. A method of the handover isas illustrated in FIG. 10. As described above, when a BLE connection isestablished between the MFP 100 and the external device, the BLE unit316 stops advertisement, but when the BLE connection between the MFP 100and the external device is disconnected, the BLE unit 316 attempts torestart advertisement. On the other hand, if the CPU 302 determines thatthe BLE unit 316 receives no CONNECT_REQ (NO in step S1103), the CPU 302repeats the determination until the BLE unit 316 receives a CONNECT_REQ.

When the Wi-Fi connection is established between the MFP 100 and theexternal device in step S1104, the mode change condition is satisfied.Thus, in step S1105, the CPU 302 performs control in such a manner thatthe MFP 100 is changed to the non-connectable mode and the BLE unit 316stops advertisement. More specifically, the CPU 302 performs control insuch a manner that the BLE unit 316 executes neither the transmissionprocessing nor the reception processing to prevent a BLE connection withan external device. In this way, the MFP 100 can perform control in sucha manner that no handover via BLE communication is executed, therebypreventing a situation in which a subsequent job is processed before aprevious job.

Next, in step S1106, the CPU 302 determines whether the mode changeconditions are no longer satisfied, and also determines whether tochange the MFP 100 to the normal mode. More specifically the CPU 302determines whether the Wi-Fi connection with the external device isdisconnected. Alternatively, the CPU 302 determines whether thereception of data from the external device is completed or whether theprocessing of a job received from the external device is completed. Atthis time, the CPU 302 may determine that the mode change conditions areno longer satisfied if all of the mode change conditions are no longersatisfied or if a combination of some of the mode change conditions isno longer satisfied. Further, the mode change conditions as to which thedetermination in step S1106 is to be performed may freely be set by auser. If the CPU 302 determines that the mode change conditions are nolonger satisfied (YES in step S1106), the CPU 302 cancels thenon-connectable mode and changes the MFP 100 to the normal mode. Then,in step S1102, the CPU 302 restarts advertisement in the normal mode. Onthe other hand, if the CPU 302 determines that the mode changeconditions are satisfied (NO in step S1106), the processing proceeds tostep S1107.

In step S1107, the CPU 302 performs timeout determination. Morespecifically, the CPU 302 determines whether the time that has passedsince the MFP 100 is changed to the non-connectable mode in step S1105exceeds a predefined threshold value. The predefined threshold valueused in the timeout determination may be set by a user or may be a valuethat is preset at the time of shipment. If the CPU 302 determines thatthe time that has passed since the MFP 100 is changed to thenon-connectable mode does not exceed the predefined threshold value (NOin step S1107), step S1106 is repeated. On the other hand, if the CPU302 determines that the time that has passed since the MFP 100 ischanged to the non-connectable mode exceeds the predefined thresholdvalue (YES in step S1107), the CPU 302 cancels the non-connectable modeand changes the MFP 100 to the normal mode. Then, in step S1102, the CPU302 restarts advertisement in the normal mode. The timeout determinationenables the MFP 100 to recover to the normal mode without waiting forthe completion of the reception or processing of the job even in a casewhere, for example, the transmission/reception or processing of the jobis interrupted due to an occurrence of a communication error, a joberror, or the like.

In this way, the MFP 100 can switch the advertisement mode of the BLEunit 316 according to the state of the connection or communication withthe external device.

According to the BLE standards, when a BLE connection is established,the BLE unit 316 stops advertisement, and when the BLE connection iscancelled, the BLE unit 316 restarts advertisement. Thus, in general,the BLE unit 316 restarts advertisement when the connection between theMFP 100 and the external device is switched by a handover from the BLEconnection to the Wi-Fi connection. However, in the present exemplaryembodiment, even when the BLE connection is cancelled, if the Wi-Ficonnection is established between the MFP 100 and the external device,the BLE unit 316 does not restart advertisement and prevents executionof a handover. This prevents a situation in which although an externaldevice executes a handover previously, another external device executinga handover subsequently transmits a job to result in execution ofprocessing of the job before a previous job.

In the first exemplary embodiment, the case is described in which thetransmission processing and the reception processing are not executed inBLE advertisement in the non-connectable mode. In a second exemplaryembodiment, a case will be described in which processing different fromthe processing in the first exemplary embodiment is executed in thenon-connectable mode.

In the following description, the non-connectable mode in which thetransmission processing and the reception processing are not executedwill be referred to as a first non-connectable mode, and anon-connectable mode which is different from the first non-connectablemode will be referred to as a second non-connectable mode.

The configuration of the communication system in the present exemplaryembodiment is similar to the configuration of the communication systemin the first exemplary embodiment, so description thereof is omitted.Further, the mode change conditions in the present exemplary embodimentare similar to the mode change conditions in the first exemplaryembodiment, so description thereof is omitted.

In the present exemplary embodiment, when the mode change conditions aresatisfied, the MFP 100 operates in the second non-connectable mode. Thesecond non-connectable mode is a mode in which the BLE unit 316 does notexecute the reception processing and transmits in the transmissionprocessing the advertisement packet which stores information fornotification of the state of the MFP 100 in which the MFP 100 does notreceive a job. More specifically, when the MFP 100 is in the secondnon-connectable mode, the MFP 100 executes advertisement as illustratedin FIG. 8B.

In the present exemplary embodiment, the “state in which execution of ahandover is controlled” refers to the state in which the mode changeconditions are satisfied. Examples include the “state in which the MFP100 is Wi-Fi connected to an external device” and the “state in whichthe reception of data from an external device to which the MFP 100 isWi-Fi connected is not completed”. Thus, when the MFP 100 is in thesecond non-connectable mode, the MFP 100 stores information fornotification that the MFP 100 is in the state. In the present exemplaryembodiment, the advertisement mode information 506 or the like is usedas the information for notification that the MFP 100 is in the state.The payload 502 may include a new region for notification that the MFP100 is in the state.

Then, the MFP 100 displays on the external device having received theadvertisement packet storing the information, for example, anotification screen indicating the communication state of the MFP 100 asillustrated in FIG. 13A, thereby notifying the user of the state of theMFP 100 in which the MFP 100 does not receive a job. In order to notifythe state to the user, the MFP 100 may display on the external device ascreen for notification of the advertisement mode of the MFP 100 at thetime of the advertisement as illustrated in FIG. 13B. Further, the MFP100 may display on the external device a screen for notification of thecause of the change of the advertisement mode as illustrated in FIGS.13C and 13D.

As described above, in the second non-connectable mode, the MFP 100executes transmission of the advertisement packet but does not executereception of connection request information so that no BLE connectionwith the external device is established. Thus, in the secondnon-connectable mode, the MFP 100 transmits the advertisement packet ofthe type of ADV_NONCONN_IND or ADV_SCAN_IND having a “non-connectable”attribute in the connectability. No connection information may be addedto the advertisement packet transmitted in the second non-connectablemode, and information to instruct the external device not to returnconnection request information may be added.

The following describes the advertisement mode changing process which isexecuted by the MFP 100 in the present exemplary embodiment, withreference to FIG. 12. The CPU 302 loads the control program stored inthe ROM 303 or HDD (not illustrated) included in the MFP 100 into theRAM 304 and executes the control program to realize the processingillustrated in the flow chart. The processing illustrated in the flowchart is started when advertisement is started, e.g., when the powersupply of the main body of the MFP 100 is turned on or when the powersupply of the BLE unit 316 is turned on.

Steps S1201 to S1204, S1206, and S1207 are similar to steps S1101 toS1104, S1106, and S1107, so description thereof is omitted.

In step S1205, the CPU 302 changes the MFP 100 to the secondnon-connectable mode. More specifically, the CPU 302 ends the receptionprocessing performed by the BLE unit 316. Further, the CPU 302 performscontrol in such a manner that in the transmission processing performedby the BLE unit 316, the advertisement packet storing information fornotification of the state of the MFP 100 in which the MFP 100 does notexecute a handover.

In this way, the MFP 100 can notify the state of the MFP 100 to the userhaving the external device which receives the advertisement packet.Then, the MFP 100 can prompt the user to use a different communicationapparatus or can explain why the external device and the MFP 100 cannotexecute a handover. Further, the MFP 100 omits the reception processingso that no connection request information is received to preventexecution of a handover and to reduce power consumption.

The communication method for transmitting the information fornotification of the state of the MFP 100 is not limited to BLE. Adifferent communication method such as Wi-Fi may be used to transmit theinformation for notification of the state of the MFP 100.

Further, either one of the first and second non-connectable modes may beset as the mode in which the MFP 100 operates when the mode changeconditions are satisfied.

Other Embodiments

As long as the advantages of the above-described exemplary embodimentsare realized, the order of processing in the flow charts in theabove-described exemplary embodiments may be changed, not all theprocessing must be executed, and details of the processing may bechanged.

As described above, the near-field communication method used for ahandover is not limited to BLE, and NFC, Wi-Fi Aware, and the like maybe used. In the case where, for example, NFC is used as the near-fieldcommunication method, control is performed to prevent a situation inwhich a subsequent job is processed before a previous job, by deletingcommunication information stored in a memory of a NFC communication unitor turning off a power supply of the NFC communication unit. In thisway, the communication information stored in the NFC communication unitis not read by an external device and is thus not acquired by theexternal device.

While the processing which is executed when the communication apparatustransmits the BLE advertisement packet to the external device isdescribed in the above-described exemplary embodiments, informationwhich is different from the BLE advertisement packet may be used tonotify the external device of the presence of the communicationapparatus. For example, the communication apparatus may notify theexternal device of the presence of the communication apparatus bynotification of information based on a Wi-Fi function. Then, theinformation issued by the communication apparatus based on the Wi-Fifunction may contain information which is similar to the information inthe above-described exemplary embodiments.

While the case in which a connection according to the high-speedcommunication method is performed using a handover is described in theabove-described exemplary embodiments, the communication apparatus mayperform a connection according to the high-speed communication methodwithout using a handover. In this case, for example, the communicationapparatus enables an access point of the communication apparatus andbroadcasts information about the enabled access point to the surroundingarea. Then, after the broadcast access point information is acquired byan external device, input of a password and authentication processingfor using the access point are performed to establish a connection usingthe high-speed communication method. In an exemplary embodiment, thecontrol to prevent a situation in which a subsequent job is processedbefore a previous job may be executed even when a connection accordingto the high-speed communication method without using a handover isestablished instead of a connection according to the high-speedcommunication method using a handover.

The above-described exemplary embodiments can also be realized bysupplying a program which realizes one or more functions of theabove-described exemplary embodiments to a system or apparatus via anetwork or record medium and then causing one or more processors in acomputer of the system or apparatus to execute the program. Further, theabove-described exemplary embodiments can also be realized by a circuit(e.g., application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) which realizesone or more functions.

Various exemplary embodiments prevent a decrease in the speed ofcommunication with an external device due to execution of a handover ina case where a connection is established with the external device.

Embodiment(s) of the present disclosure can also be realized by acomputer of a system or apparatus that reads out and executes computerexecutable instructions (e.g., one or more programs) recorded on astorage medium (which may also be referred to more fully as a‘non-transitory computer-readable storage medium’) to perform thefunctions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/orthat includes one or more circuits (e.g., application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC)) for performing the functions of one or moreof the above-described embodiment(s), and by a method performed by thecomputer of the system or apparatus by, for example, reading out andexecuting the computer executable instructions from the storage mediumto perform the functions of one or more of the above-describedembodiment(s) and/or controlling the one or more circuits to perform thefunctions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s). Thecomputer may comprise one or more processors (e.g., central processingunit (CPU), micro processing unit (MPU)) and may include a network ofseparate computers or separate processors to read out and execute thecomputer executable instructions. The computer executable instructionsmay be provided to the computer, for example, from a network or thestorage medium. The storage medium may include, for example, one or moreof a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM),a storage of distributed computing systems, an optical disk (such as acompact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), or Blu-ray Disc (BD)™),a flash memory device, a memory card, and the like.

While various embodiments have been described with reference toexemplary embodiments, the scope of the following claims is to beaccorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all suchmodifications and equivalent structures and functions.

What is claimed is:
 1. A communication apparatus configured tocommunicate by a first wireless communication method and a secondwireless communication method different from the first wirelesscommunication method, the communication apparatus operating as a slaveapparatus in communication by the first wireless communication method,and establishing a first wireless connection by the first wirelesscommunication method and a second wireless connection by the secondwireless communication method, the communication apparatus comprising:at least one processor which executes operations comprising: operatingthe communication apparatus in a state of executing a predeterminedcommunication operation by the first wireless communication method as anapparatus operable as the slave apparatus; causing the communicationapparatus to establish the first wireless connection after thecommunication apparatus is operated in the state of executing thepredetermined communication operation; performing communication with anexternal apparatus via the established first wireless connection, thecommunication being related to communication information for performingcommunication based on the second wireless communication method; causingthe communication apparatus to establish the second wireless connectionafter the communication related to the communication information withthe external apparatus is performed via the first wireless connection;controlling the communication apparatus, based on processing related toestablishing the second wireless connection, so that the first wirelessconnection is ended, wherein the communication apparatus is operated ina state of not executing the predetermined communication operation,while the second wireless connection is established; and operating thecommunication apparatus again in the state of executing thepredetermined communication operation based on processing related todisconnecting the second wireless connection.
 2. The communicationapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined communicationoperation includes operating the communication apparatus in a statewhere the communication apparatus is able to transmit a signal based onthe first wireless communication method and receive connection requestinformation transmitted from the external apparatus that received thesignal.
 3. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein thepredetermined communication operation includes an operation to broadcastconnection information for establishing the first wireless connection tothe external apparatus located near the communication apparatus, andwherein the communication apparatus establishes the first wirelessconnection and becomes able to communicate the communication informationin a case where the broadcast connection information is received by theexternal apparatus.
 4. The communication apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the at least one processor further processes a job received fromthe external apparatus via the second wireless connection, and whereinthe communication is operated again in the state of executing thepredetermined communication operation, based on processing related tocompletion of the job received from the external apparatus via thesecond wireless connection and disconnection of the second wirelessconnection.
 5. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, whereinthe communication apparatus is operated in a state of not executing thepredetermined communication operation based on establishment of thefirst wireless connection.
 6. The communication apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the communication apparatus is continuously operated inthe state of not executing the predetermined communication operationeven if the second wireless connection is established.
 7. Thecommunication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communicationapparatus is operated to end the first wireless connection establishedbefore the second wireless connection is established, after the secondwireless connection is disconnected.
 8. The communication apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the communication apparatus is operatedagain in the state of executing the predetermined communicationoperation, after the second wireless connection is disconnected.
 9. Thecommunication apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the communicationapparatus is operated again in the state of executing the predeterminedcommunication operation without a user operation on the communicationapparatus, after the second wireless connection is disconnected.
 10. Thecommunication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the firstcommunication method is Bluetooth®.
 11. The communication apparatusaccording to claim 8, wherein the first communication method isBluetooth Low Energy®.
 12. The communication apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the second communication method is Wi-Fi®.
 13. Thecommunication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least oneprocessor further processes a job received from the external apparatusvia the second wireless connection, wherein the job is a print job forcausing the communication apparatus to execute print processing or ascan job for causing the communication apparatus to execute scanprocessing, and wherein the print processing or the scan processing isexecuted according to the job received via the second wirelessconnection.
 14. The communication apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the second wireless connection is a connection between thecommunication apparatus and the external apparatus.
 15. Thecommunication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least oneprocessor further controls a third establishing unit configured to causethe communication apparatus to establish the second wireless connectionwithout executing the communication related to the communicationinformation with the external apparatus via the first wirelessconnection, and wherein the communication apparatus is operated in astate of not executing the predetermined communication operation, whilethe second wireless connection is established without executing thecommunication related to the communication information with the externalapparatus via the first wireless connection.
 16. The communicationapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication apparatus is adigital camera.
 17. The communication apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the communication apparatus is a music playback device.
 18. Thecommunication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communicationapparatus is an inkjet printing apparatus.
 19. The communicationapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication information isa service set identifier (SSID).
 20. A control method for controlling acommunication apparatus, the communication apparatus configured tocommunicate by a first wireless communication method and a secondwireless communication method different from the first wirelesscommunication method, operate as a slave apparatus in communication bythe first wireless communication method, and establish a first wirelessconnection by the first wireless communication method and a secondwireless connection by the second wireless communication method, thecontrol method comprising: operating the communication apparatus in astate of executing a predetermined communication operation by the firstwireless communication method as an apparatus operable as the slaveapparatus; causing the communication apparatus to establish the firstwireless connection after the communication apparatus is operated in thestate of executing the predetermined communication operation; performingcommunication with an external apparatus via the established firstwireless connection, the communication being related to communicationinformation for performing communication based on the second wirelesscommunication method; causing the communication apparatus to establishthe second wireless connection after the communication related to thecommunication information with the external apparatus is performed viathe first wireless connection; controlling the communication apparatus,based on processing related to establishing the second wirelessconnection, so that the first wireless connection is ended, wherein thecommunication apparatus is operated in a state of not executing thepredetermined communication operation, while the second wirelessconnection is established; and operating the communication apparatusagain in the state of executing the predetermined communicationoperation based on processing related to disconnecting the secondwireless connection.